This invention relates to an automatic changing apparatus for a recording medium, and more particularly but not exclusively, it relates to an automatic changing apparatus for compact discs used for the reproduction of music.
There exist in the marketplace a number of apparatuses which can store a plurality of recording media, such as compact discs, and automatically access and transfer information to or from a desired one of the recording media. These devices generally employ a circular magazine or carrousel which houses the recording media. The magazine can be either stationary or rotatable, and it can be either permanently mounted or removable from the apparatus.
In one type of conventional changing apparatus for compact discs, a plurality of compact discs are horizontally disposed around a circle atop a flat carrousel. The carrousel can be rotated to bring any one of the discs into alignment with a spindle, which can rotatably support a single disc while an optical pick-up reproduces information stored in the disc. While the disc is being rotated by the spindle, the disc remains inside the carrousel. This arrangement has the disadvantage that the discs are all disposed in a single horizontal plane, so only a very few discs can be housed in a small carrousel.
Another type of conventional changing apparatus has a plurality of discs which are vertically disposed in radial slots of a circular magazine. Each of the discs is aligned with a radius of the magazine. A disc player is disposed at the center of the magazine, and a desired disc can be transferred from inside the magazine to the disc player. While this arrangement enables a large number of discs to be stored within a magazine of small radius, since the discs are vertically disposed, the height of the apparatus must be at least as tall as the diameter of the discs, so the changing apparatus is undesirably bulky.